Matt Ruta 
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I could not have timed leaving BC better this winter. I spent a good chunk of time in Europe racing skimo world cups and during that period I’m pretty sure it snowed once at home. Folks did not seem impressed. Fortunately, that one snowfall accounted for about a meter, just before I got home – which really spruced things up. After the inevitable massive avalanche cycle ensued, we got a really nice… Read More
Whoops, this draft has been sitting around collecting dust for nearly an entire year. (I’ll backdate it so anyone referring to it for beta doesn’t get confused by the time of year we skied the line.) It was a wonderful day skiing a route you won’t find much information about, so I think it’s still worth publishing. For various reasons, spring 2023 didn’t line up all that well for me. I spent… Read More
Some things don’t go as planned. Such was the case in early December when a friend and I were approaching Mt. Chephren’s N face, eyes set on the Kum Ba Jah Couloir. Our eyes were so set, in fact, that we neglected to realize how thin our margin of safety had become as we approached the line. Spurred on by better than anticipated stability, we rationalized that, despite sloughing on other aspects… Read More
It’s been a special kind of winter, and now that spring is (finally) beginning to make an appearance we’re left with snow in places that were bone dry in March of years past. One thing we haven’t had much of though is clear weather, so when the forecast promised us a day of it, Ian, Rory, Mike and I mobilized for one of the premier ski descents in Rogers Pass.
I have a love/hate relationship with the extended high pressure system. This most recent one, though, has so far served up nothing but good times. By virtue of the weird fall we had, the alpine is caked with a little extra snow, despite lower elevations looking only marginally better than they did in October. That means bigger lines are coming in, even if their approaches aren’t. After a few weeks of mainly working… Read More
A brief departure from reality on the wild north face of Mt. Macdonald.
An introduction to the speed traverse, a day that refused to end, a big Rogers Pass north face and some alone time with the Gulo.
Deep pow, new friends, old friends, unreal terrain and a killer deal at an amazing lodge make for a hut trip to remember. Soul skiing at its finest.
Last year, entirely on a whim, Cam Stuchly and I spent two nights skiing deep powder at Ripple Ridge Cabin near the summit of Kootenay pass on the number three highway between Salmo and Creston BC. You can read that trip report here. The gist is that the snow was terrific, we had a great time and we couldn’t wait to come back. So we did, and we brought long time friend… Read More
Sometimes you just can’t say no. When the man who introduced me to energy gels; all around machine Trevor Sexsmith asked if I wanted to spend a week at Sorcerer Lodge for dirt cheap, there was only one acceptable answer. That answer, obviously was “I’ll find the money and get the time off somehow”, which is exactly what I did.
Matt Ruta 